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Monthly Archives: September 2016

Put up that wall! Pronto! Deeply anonymous sources are suggesting that the real reason for building the wall along the Rio Grande is to keep Americans from fleeing a Trump presidency. In addition, Mexican immigrants, at least some undocumented, continue to “pour” across the border, heading south. Many of them are probably not the best […]

My mind wandered during Monday’s debate, as I grew weary of listening to one man’s rambling refusal to recognize any source of knowledge or wisdom beyond his “gut.” Doing so is the purpose of education – and Donald Trump seems to have missed a few classes. A friend of mine believes that this election is […]

Like many others, I experience the tension that Welsh poet Edward Thomas noted between the desire to ‘go on and on over the earth’ and the desire ‘to settle for ever in one place,’ words I recently came across in Landmarks, Robert Macfarlane’s extraordinary book about the intimate connections between language and place. The words […]

Ah, another beautiful sunny fall day. “Agh. Beautiful sunny days are killing us. Last year was the hottest year in history, smashing the old record set in 2014; and 2016 is blowing those records away. And the drought! Oh. My. God. Even the rainy coast of New England is abnormally dry. The streams have no water. The ground is rock hard. […]

Two reasons I believe the market system can play a vital role in building a better economy are: (1) it spawns entrepreneurs – the loner in a garage, the small group in a laboratory, the back-to-the-land organic farmer – in a way no other economic system ever has; and (2) incentives, economic and otherwise, work […]

Yesterday it was Gary Johnson’s turn to get skewered by the Fourth Estate. It all began innocently enough. On the Morning Joe talk show, Gotcha Journalist Mike Barnicle asked Libertarian presidential candidate Johnson, “What would you do, if elected, about Aleppo?” “And what is a leppo,” Johnson replied? That is a very good question. I, for […]

For someone who deals in words, one of the most disheartening aspects of current politics is the demise of language as a tool for inspiring – or even communicating with – people. And it’s not just the candidates. The president of the Philippines and the governor of Maine talk dirty; and someone should take away […]

Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand up for the national anthem Friday. Now he’s told to find another country. I was teaching middle school when I stopped pledging allegiance to the flag. I didn’t make a scene. I stood up straight and faced the flag, for I have nothing against the flag (except when worn mindlessly on politicians’ […]

James G. Blaine

Most of us undervalue what seem our tiny contributions to our communities and the world. As a result, we feel powerless, even victimized. But, like the butterfly effect in science, the lives we lead with our families, in our communities, and at work – all the so-called little things we do – collectively change the world. As I grow older, my ambition grows more modest but not less important: to participate fully and to contribute what I can. That’s my goal with this blog.